U.S. Rep. John Barrow proposes panic buttons for schools | The Augusta Chronicle

Eight months after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Conn., U.S. Rep. John Barrow pushed Monday for support of his legislation that would install panic buttons in schools to alert police of danger.

During a news conference at the Richmond County Board of Education, Barrow said he wants to reauthorize a $30 million matching grant program that was created under the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 but lapsed in 2009.

The legislation, introduced last week in House Bill 2583, would amend outstanding bylaws of the grant to include “acquisition and installation of technology for expedited notification of local law enforcement during an emergency.”

At the moment, Barrow said, the bill is gridlocked in the House of Representatives and would take an “active Congress to get it passed.” He rallied for support from his district Monday.

“What we need above all else is to improve response time so that the good guys can respond as quickly as possible,” said the 12th District Democrat. “Time is precious, and the difference between life and death is that minutes costs lives.”

First and Second Amendment advocates pointed fingers in response to the Sandy Hook shootings, but Barrow said he toured his district to visit with sheriffs, police officers and emergency workers to gain input on a possible solution.

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